Punching-bag.



C. B. WHITNEY.

PUNCHING BAG.

lication filed Feb. 15, 1901 N0. 695,l86. Patented Mar. ll, I902.

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CHARLES l3. \VHITNEY,OF.CIIIOOPEE FALLS, MASSACHUSETTS.

PUNCHING' BAG.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.- 695,186, dated March 11, 1902. Application filed February 15, 1901. Serial No.47,5(l3. (No model.)

shall do away entirely with the horizontally disposed platform or abutment of the apparatus against which the bag strikes, as at present constructed, to the end that the space occupied by the apparatus may be much reduced, and whereby by the said reduction of the dimensions of the bag-abutment the latter may be made much more rigid and the' noise made by the impact of the bag be very much reduced.

The invention consists in the apparatus fully described in the following specification.

and pointed out in the claims.

I-Ieretoforethe apparatus for this kind of exercise has been constructed with a horizontal platform either in the form of a disk or a ring, from the center of which the bag is suspended by a cord, theplatform'or bagabutment being supported in a manner to give it the required rigidity to withstand the impact of the bag, which, as is well known, may be quite violent. In all apparatus as at presentconstructed the bag swings upwardly against the under side of the platform, coming in contact with the latter when the cord is extended substantially in a horizontal position. This necessitates supporting the platform from above to insure the required rigidity, said supports being applied more particularly to the outer portions thereof. In my invention the contact-surface of the abutment is practically parallel with or but slightly inclined relative to its axis.

Experience has taught that a bag which swings through a circle having about an eighteen-inch radius provides for the return of a bag after it is struck in about the time in which the person using it can prepare to meet it, and thus the thirty-siX-inch swing has by general adoption among manufac ratus in which the horizontal platform or abutment is eliminated entirely and means provided whereby when the bag in its swinging movements approaches the position in whichits axis is nearly horizontal it is made to swing sharply upward and inward against the outwardly-facing sides of a head or impact-ring of much reduced size, and during the latter portion of its movement the radius on which it swings is gradually reduced and its movement thereby accelerated. The essential diiference,therefore,between the present invention and the apparatus as heretofore constructed is that in this case the bag from its depending position swings outwardly and then upwardly and inwardly against a comparatively small and compact hea d,'describing a helical curve, while in the old apparatus the movement of the bag is practically through a quadrant of uniform radius, striking the under side of the abutment or platform with an upwardswing. Adherence to the horizontal-platform type of apparatus therefore precluded the possibility of reducing the space occupied by the device and still retain the feature of the time of swing above referred to and which is considered essential.

. In the drawings forming part of this application, Figure l is a perspective view of an apparatus embodying my invention shown set up in a doorway. Fig. 2 is a partly-sectional View of a part of the frame. Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the head, showing its suspended bag.

A suitable frame for the support of the bag and its abutment whereby the latter may be set upin a doorway, for instance, is constructed as follows. This frame,however,does not form part of the present invention, but is illustrative of the type of bag-support necessary to the proper operation of the bag and its abutment which is the subject of this ap plication, the essential feature of the framesupport residing in the provision of means for supporting the abutment from a point loo above the latter and well within the area of the outer diameter of said abutment, whereby the bag may swing freely against the outwardly-facin g periphery thereof without coming in contact with any part of the frame. This frame comprises a horizontally-disposed V-shaped member a, whose two extremities are separated by a sleeve 1), in each end of which there is a screw-rod 0, whose outer extremities are provided with circular plates d. On said screw-rods are the nuts 6, serving to lock the rods 0 in operative position. Said frame membera is provided with the inclined braces f, whose lower extremities are held in proper separated relation by another sleeve g, in the ends of which are located screw-rods c and lock-nuts 6 similar to those described above. These inclined braces f are secured to the member a at h and extend somewhat above it, and from their upper ends shorter braces t extend downward and forward toward the apex of the member a, to which they are secured, forming a truss-support for the latter. The abutment 70 for the bag is supported in a depending position from the point of the member a, as shown in Fig. 1. If it is necessary, however, in order to permit the bag to always swing free of the frame, that part of the member a to which it is directly attached may be bent downwardly, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, whichwill permit the use of a little longer cord on which the bag is suspended. The bag isindicated byj. The

head 70 is made, preferably, of wood, though any other suitable material may be used, and may be secured in any way to the frame in such manner as to hang below it, as shown. In the drawings it is shown secured to the frame by a bolt l, which passes axially through the head 7; and the end of the frame and is secured to the latter by a nut. The innerend of the bolt instead of having a head thereon has its end formed in the shape of an eye, through which the cord 0 passes and to the lower end of which the bag is attached. The upper end of the cord passes through a hole in the neck formed between the head and the annular flange p below the head. This flange is preferably of somewhat-smaller diameter than the head, concentric with it, and preferably, though not necessarily, integral with it, and the hole bored for the bolt is counterbored from its lower end to permit the eye in the end of the bolt to be located in said neck between the head and the flange p. The lower end of the said hole is made flaring to the end that the cord shall not be chafed against the edge thereof by the movements of the bag.

By hanging the bag as described it will be observed by referring to the drawings that when the bag is struck the flange p acts as a fulcrum on which the bag swings when in its movements it rises above a certain point. As illustrated herein, the contact of the cord with the flange p practically shortens the former by one-half, and thus accelerates the last half of the swing of the bag proportionately, and the opening through the flange p having a flaring mouth the upward swing of the bag results in a progressively-decreasing radius in the curve described by said bag. The result of this construction is that in action the bag describes practically a helical curve with a constantly-accelerating movement and comes in contact with the abutment at the end of a short inward swing toward the vertical axis of the latter. This abutment may thus be made of a relatively small diameter and may be very strong and rigid in consequence, and by reason of its compactness and solidity it loses that resonance which is characteristic of the platform type of abutment, and it is a principle of construction which permits the reduction of the space occupied by the apparatus to the smallest possible area. These characteristics from a practical and commercial point of View are important.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. In a punching-bag apparatus, a frame, a bag, a flexible attachment for suspending the bag, an abutment for the bag to strike against and means located over and near the center of said abutment for securing the latter to the frame, whereby the bag may be free to be swung against said abutment above the point of attachment of said flexible conne' tion to said abutment without coming in contact with the frame, substantially as described.

2. In a punching-bag apparatus, a frame, a bag, a flexible attachment for suspending the bag, an abutment for the bag to strike against, and means located over and near the center of said abutment for securing the latter to the frame, whereby the bag may be free to be swung against said abutment above the point of attachment of said flexible connection to said abutment without coming in contact with the frame, combined with an annular ring located between the abutment for the bag and the latter, sustantially as described.

3. In a punching-bag apparatus, a frame, a bag supported therefrom in a depending position, and an annular abutment for said bag located between the latter and said frame, the

said abutment having a smaller radius than that of the are described by the movement of the center of the bag on its axialline, measured from its position of rest to its position at the moment of its impact with the abutment.

4. In a punching-bag apparatus, a frame, a bag supported therefrom in a depending position, an annular abutment for the bag to strike against located between the bag and the frame, said abutment having a smaller radius than that of the are described by the movement of the center of the bag on its axial line measured from its position of rest to its position at the moment ofits impact with said abutment, in combination with a second annular member between the bag and the abutment whereby the free swinging of the bag may be interrupted and its course altered before it comes in contact with the abutment.

5. In a punching-bag apparatus a bag, a flexible support therefor, and an annular abutment for the bag, the said abutment being of less diameter than that of the arc described by the center of the bag on its-axial line, measured from its position of rest to its position at the moment of its impact with said abutment, whereby the direction of the impact of the bag will be toward the vertical axis of the abutment.

6. In a punching-bag apparatus, a bag, a flexible support for the latter, an annular abutment for the bag" of less diameter than that of the are described by the center of the latter, said abutment having an outwardlyfacing impact-surface.

7. In a punching-bag apparatus, a bag, a flexible support from which the latter is suspended, an annular abutment of less diameter than that of the are described by the center of said bag, the point of attachment of 

